Alexandr Lukashenko arrived in Sochi to meet with Vladimir Putin. The day before, 26 years have passed since the signing of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Russia and Belarus, the first integration document after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Putin meets a guest on the street. A warm welcome and an immediate invitation to the house, it's cool now in the mountains. The negotiations are taking place in a small cottage on the territory of the hotel in Krasnaya Polyana, at an altitude of almost 1.5 kilometers above sea level. Leaders communicate without ties, like old friends.
Indeed, it is difficult to imagine another country with which such close ties can be. Belarus became the first state to take part in clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine. In the near future, joint production of the vaccine on the territory of the republic is planned.
As for the economy, Russia has supported Belarus annually by an average of $ 20 billion. Although the turnover has decreased by about 15% due to the pandemic and the immediate task is to restore and increase it. At the same time, Russia buys almost half of everything that Belarusians sell. These are mainly machines, equipment and agricultural products.
And, of course, jobs for Belarusians. There are now about a million citizens of the union country in Russia. Among them there are 10 thousand students who entered our universities through a general competition. Negotiations are already underway to open points for the USE in the republic. And the largest joint project in recent years for $ 10 billion is the BelNPP. The first power unit has already been brought to full capacity. The nuclear power plant will ensure the energy security of Belarus.
By the way, gas and oil are supplied to the Union country on preferential terms. Over the past 10 years, Minsk has saved a huge amount on this - about $ 70 billion. Belarus processes Russian raw materials and sells the resulting gasoline, diesel and fuel oil to the West.
Putin and Lukashenko took a break from work and rode snowmobiles to the ski slope. Both presidents love this winter sport. At the same time, no one closed the resort, and the leaders greeted the vacationers. They were lucky with the weather today - the tracks were rolled out after a heavy snowfall, which lasted several days here.
Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov warned in advance that the meeting in Sochi would be "very long." And so it happened. In general, everyone is used to it. The talks with the leader of the allied country have never ended quickly.
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